Being away from a place; withdrawn from a place; not present. "Expecting absent friends."

2.

Not existing; lacking; as, the part was rudimental or absent.

3.

Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied; as, an absent air. "What is commonly called an absent man is commonly either a very weak or a very affected man."

Synonyms:Absent, Abstracted. These words both imply a lack of attention to surrounding objects. We speak of a man as absent when his thoughts wander unconsciously from present scenes or topics of discourse; we speak of him as abstracted when his mind (usually for a brief period) is drawn off from present things by some weighty matter for reflection. Absence of mind is usually the result of loose habits of thought; abstraction commonly arises either from engrossing interests and cares, or from unfortunate habits of association.

... of California, at the same time supporting himself by soliciting what was then known as "life insurance." His records as a student are preserved in the university museum, and they are unenviable. He is remembered by the professors he sat under chiefly for his absent-mindedness. Undoubtedly, even then, he was catching glimpses of the wide visions that later were ...— Revolution and Other Essays • Jack London

... for conjectures; as, if they see a man with a shrouding sheet in the apparition, they will conjecture at the nearness or remoteness of his death by the more or less of his body that is covered by it. They will ordinarily see their absent friends, though at a great distance, sometimes no less than from America to Scotland, sitting, standing, or walking in some certain place; and then they conclude with an assurance that they will see them so, and there. If a man be in love with a woman, they will ordinarily ...— Folk-Lore and Legends - Scotland • Anonymous

... divided in his own mind between the claims of reportorial delicacy and proper self-respect. It had been his intention to absent himself from the services at the grave, out of consideration for the immediate family. It occurred to him now that it was almost his duty to show himself there, in order not to avoid a meeting. But the finer instinct prevailed. Why allow what ...— The Law-Breakers and Other Stories • Robert Grant

... were open, and her voice light and spirited; though the natural dark rose-glow was absent from her olive cheeks. ...— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... The transference of property, which is the proper remedy for this inconvenience, cannot remedy it entirely; because it can only take place with regard to such objects as are present and individual, but not to such as are absent or general. One cannot transfer the property of a particular house, twenty leagues distant; because the consent cannot be attended with delivery, which is a requisite circumstance. Neither can one transfer the property of ten bushels of corn, or five hogsheads of wine, by the mere ...— A Treatise of Human Nature • David Hume

... consciousness itself which constitutes the so-called 'knower.' This follows therefrom also that consciousness is not non-intelligent (jada); for non-intelligence invariably accompanies absence of Selfhood (anatmatva); hence, non-intelligence being absent in consciousness, consciousness is not non-Self, that means, it is ...— The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja - Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48 • Trans. George Thibaut

... to him, and Matt turned about and said, "Hello, Caryl!" and yielded him a sort of absent-minded hand, while he kept his face turned smilingly upon the men. Some were holding the rails in position, and another was driving in the spike that was to rivet the plate to the sleeper. He struck it with exquisite ...— The Quality of Mercy • W. D. Howells

... beauty turns the graceful shape, Swells the fair breast, or animates the glance, Adorns my palace with its brightest virgins; Yet, unacquainted with these soft emotions, I walk'd superiour through the blaze of charms, Prais'd without rapture, left without regret. Why rove I now, when absent from my fair, From solitude to crowds, from crowds to solitude, Still restless, till I clasp the lovely maid, And ease my loaded soul upon ...— Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 - The Works Of Samuel Johnson, Ll.D., In Nine Volumes • Samuel Johnson

... who have written the life of the Virgin for the edification of the people, and those who have translated it into the various forms of art, have taken it for granted that SHE, his mother, could not have been absent or indifferent where others attended with affection and zeal: but I do not remember any scene in which she is an actor, ...— Legends of the Madonna • Mrs. Jameson

... enjoying all these new experiences in England, the good people at home were jogging along in their accustomed ruts, but were deeply interested in the doings of the absent son ...— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Samuel F. B. Morse

... what I have seen in your face," he said in a soft, absent voice. "It is a truth to me. It is what I ...— Stories by American Authors, Volume 3 • Various

... eldest son, James, reigned in his stead. The captain, a very much "younger" son, probably had little more than his pay and a fine assortment of debts; still, one cannot have everything. The rights of absent Captain D—— were forgotten, now that there was a chance to marry his daughter to a man who called the daughter of an Earl grandmother, and could claim kinship with half the aristocracy of Scotland; and Mr. Blandy frowned as he called to mind the presumption ...— Trial of Mary Blandy • William Roughead

... exclaimed, "No Cabinet minister here! no officer of State to grace this great man's funeral!" But the funeral was graced by the reverent homage of hundreds gathered within the Abbey walls, and of the thousands who, though absent, acknowledged that England had lost one of her bravest warriors and most unselfish patriots, one whose warfare had been marked by acts of daring rarely equalled, and whose patriotism had brought upon him sufferings such as few in modern ...— The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. II • Thomas Lord Cochrane

... at the spectacle? For that be sure is a necessary point. You are too great a person, my dearest madam, in the eyes of these good folks to be allowed to absent yourself on such an occasion. If my little stratagem succeeds, it will be half owing to the fact of the people knowing that in crowning me, they crown Hypatia.... Come now—do you not see that as you must ...— Hypatia - or, New Foes with an Old Face • Charles Kingsley

... Chester as one who knew everything in and about the house. Accordingly, he sent for the old man, who came at once. He was very old, nearly ninety years of age, and very infirm. He had been born in the Castle, and had served its succession of masters—present or absent—ever since. When Edgar began to question him on the subject regarding which he had sent for him, old Simon exhibited much perturbation. In fact, he became so frightened that his master, fully believing that he was concealing something, ...— The Lair of the White Worm • Bram Stoker

... Aignan) was dead, devising proofs thereof and conjectures, and thinking that by this means he would win her favour and countenance. But she still resisted him, which seeing, the said Dumesnil gave her to understand that St. Aignan would often absent himself, and that she would be happier if she had a husband who remained with her. And plotting to compass the death of the said St. Aignan, Dumesnil gave her to understand that if she would consent to the death of her husband ...— The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.) • Margaret, Queen Of Navarre

... was very absent in company, and when he fell into a river, by the oversetting of a boat, at Hagley, it was said of him that he had "sunk twice before he recollected he could swim." Mr. Jerningham told me, that dining one day with his lordship, the earl pointed to a particular dish, and asked to be helped of it, ...— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 19. No. 575 - 10 Nov 1832 • Various

... his tea she introduced him to some of the people who were in the room. Afterwards he came to know them, but the memories which Miss O'Dwyer's verses called up in him made him absent and preoccupied. He scarcely heard the names she spoke. Soon the party broke up, and Hyacinth turned ...— Hyacinth - 1906 • George A. Birmingham

... symptoms, but he was quiet for the present and his mother earnestly watching him. She was a perfect nurse, Mark said, and Mackintosh would come back at ten. Our dinner wasn't very gay— with my host worried and absent; and his sister annoyed me by her constant tacit assumption, conveyed in the very way she nibbled her bread and sipped her wine, of having "told me so." I had had no disposition to deny anything she might have told me, and I couldn't see that her satisfaction in being justified by the event ...— The Author of Beltraffio • Henry James

... to tell this story, and always assumed her most imposing air to do honor to her theme. Drawing herself up, therefore, she folded her hands, and after two or three little "hems," began with an absent look, as if her eyes beheld a far-away time, which brightened ...— An Old-fashioned Girl • Louisa May Alcott

... listen any more to the music. She was watching them both, a steely light in her eyes, her fingers nervously entwined. The Prince was still absent. ...— The Yellow Crayon • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... programme he did, indeed, carry out; though not without constant difficulties in escaping those friendly spirits who would have kept him for hours at a time over a meal, out of sheer conviviality. And it was three weeks or more before the absent-minded dreamer became convinced of the hopelessness of attempting his own work in that particular atmosphere. For Ivan was of a type, fortunately rare, which demands a large amount of daily solitude. Loneliness he might dread—and ...— The Genius • Margaret Horton Potter

... liked her dinner high—and there was nothing I could find in her methods to show that she did—or unless Mr. Polecat had got a craze for collecting specimens and eggs, or forgot where half of his trophies were hidden as a natural habit of absent-mindedness, one cannot quite see the reason for hiding so much so soon, before the young could feed ...— The Way of the Wild • F. St. Mars

... gone—ah, welladay! The flower and pride of our array; And all the Eastland, from whose breast Came forth her bravest and her best, Craves longingly with boding dread— Parents for sons, and brides new-wed For absent lords, and, day by day, Shudder ...— Suppliant Maidens and Other Plays • AEschylus

... wherein they were absent from vs, during the whole time of our abode in that place; and ordinarily euery third day they brought their sacrifices, till such time as they certainely vnderstood our meaning, that we tooke no pleasure, but were displeased with them; whereupon their zeale abated, and their sacrificing, for a ...— Great Epochs in American History, Volume I. - Voyages Of Discovery And Early Explorations: 1000 A.D.-1682 • Various

... Davis, and some others among the neighbors were most sympathetic and considerate. Mrs. Davis sent a telegram to Lester saying that Vesta was dead, but, being absent, there was no response. The house was looked after with scrupulous care by others, for Jennie was incapable of attending to it herself. She walked about looking at things which Vesta had owned or liked—things which Lester or she had given her—sighing over the ...— Jennie Gerhardt - A Novel • Theodore Dreiser

... great Emperor had been absent from us for six years, and only now and then from over the seas we heard some whisper which showed that he was still alive. You cannot think what a weight it was upon our hearts for us who loved him ...— The Adventures of Gerard • Arthur Conan Doyle

... your dress and manner, Sir, that you must have been long absent from your own country," said Kneebone; "and now I'm convinced of it, or you wouldn't have asked that question. Jack Sheppard is the talk and terror of the whole town. The ladies can't sleep in their beds for him; and as to the men, they daren't go to bed at all. He's the most ...— Jack Sheppard - A Romance • William Harrison Ainsworth

... Felspar, after being absent for a number of years, paid a short visit to his tenants. On coming to Sunnybraes, and expressing himself highly satisfied with William Chrighton's manner of farming and general management, that individual thought it a favourable ...— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume III • Various

... wife and other children were distracted with fear. As the lightning broke forth, followed by thunderous crashes, and the island was shrouded in rain, they prayed for the absent ones. When the storm abated, they gazed long and patiently, in the hopes of getting a signal of the returning boat. They saw and heard nothing. The mother spent the night in ...— After Long Years and Other Stories • Translated from the German by Sophie A. Miller and Agnes M. Dunne

... in the light of an adversary; circumstances had changed, and all animosity was absorbed in the eagerness with which he hailed the prospect of obtaining some information about the recent startling and inexplicable events. During the twenty-seven days that she had been absent, the Dobryna, he conjectured, would have explored the Mediterranean, would very probably have visited Spain, France, or Italy, and accordingly would convey to Gourbi Island some intelligence from one or other of those countries. ...— Off on a Comet • Jules Verne

... straight! and if possible, so that I may finish D. Balfour in time for the same mail. What a getting upstairs! This is Flaubert out-done. Belle, Graham, and Lloyd leave to-day on a malaga down the coast; to be absent a week or so: this leaves Fanny, me, and ——, who seems ...— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... turned back to the house. The anxious look was still upon her face. She knew that there was serious trouble in the family, and she could see no way of helping these people she loved. Prudence was in sad disgrace with her mother; she had been absent from the farm for two days and had only returned that morning. Mrs. Malling had been distracted with anxiety and grief until the re-appearance of her daughter, and then, when she saw that she was well and that no accident had happened to her, she had flown into such a terrible ...— The Hound From The North • Ridgwell Cullum

... who informed me casually one evening that Von Rosenau was going away in a few days on leave, and that he would probably be absent for a ...— Stories By English Authors: Italy • Various

... let me entreat of you To pardon me yet for a night or two; Or, if not so, until the sun be set: For your physicians have expressly charg'd, In peril to incur your former malady, That I should yet absent me from your bed: I hope this reason stands for ...— The Taming of the Shrew • William Shakespeare [Craig, Oxford edition]

... loosely upon their shoulders, and far down their backs. Most of them are females, girls and women. There are many children, too. There are men, white-haired and old. A few other men appear, but they are not warriors. The warriors are absent. ...— The Scalp Hunters • Mayne Reid

... true or false, O'erturn the impatient mind: with surer stroke Fell jealousy destroys; the pangs of absence No lover can support; nor firmest hope Can dissipate the dread of cold neglect; Yet I, strange fate! though jealous, though disdained, Absent, and sure of cold neglect, still live. And amidst the various torments I endure, No ray of hope e'er darted on my soul, Nor would I hope; rather in deep despair Will I sit down, and, brooding o'er my griefs, Vow everlasting absence ...— Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

... fragments stood about everywhere; the chairs and the tables were in confusion. Anna, who had been locking up the silver for the night, had come into the parlor, and found her brother standing in a curious, absent-minded fashion in ...— The Debtor - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... not know, with the dignity that their mind or imagination was able to confer on the sum of unknowable forces. Our consciousness of the unknown wherein we have being gives life a meaning and grandeur which must of necessity be absent if we persist in considering only the things that are known to us; if we too readily incline to believe that these must greatly transcend in importance the things that ...— The Buried Temple • Maurice Maeterlinck

... a light ripple of conversation, sparkling herself, without striking terror to the hearts of her guests. She and Estenega were old friends, and usually indulged in lively sallies, ending some times in a sharp war of words, for she was a very clever woman; but to-night he gave her absent attention: he watched Chonita furtively, and ...— The Doomswoman - An Historical Romance of Old California • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

... the car and soon had them in line for the motor, bearing the hand baggage and wraps, the porter following with Jane's own bag. "Thank you, porter," said Jane, giving him a smile that reduced that functionary to the verge of grinning imbecility, and a tip which he received with an air of absent-minded indifference. "Good-bye, porter; you have made us very comfortable," said ...— The Major • Ralph Connor

...absent six months, and Sam's endurance had been so timed as just to last out the half-year. It was not guaranteed to withstand any change of schedule, and the two months' delay in Italy broke his heart. It could not run overtime on a starvation diet of post-cards; so when he received a cable reading, ...— The Lost Road • Richard Harding Davis

... letter to Carlton[40] John Pory said of this dinner: "My Lo. Coke only was absent, who in all vulgar opinions was there expected. His Majesty was never merrier nor more satisfied, who had not patience to sit a quarter of an hour without drinking the health of my Lady Elizabeth Hatton, which was pledged first by my Lord Keeper [Bacon] and my Lord Marquis Hamilton, and then ...— The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck - A Scandal of the XVIIth Century • Thomas Longueville

... increased rapidly. What at first was a general gathering became a crowd, then a mob. There was no assigned place for any, no presentation of one stranger to another. Friends could not find friends. Mutterings arose; crowding and jostling was not absent; here and there an angry word might have been heard. The policy of pell-mell was not working itself out in any ...— The Magnificent Adventure - Being the Story of the World's Greatest Exploration and - the Romance of a Very Gallant Gentleman • Emerson Hough

... at this juncture "keep the gates bolted and doors barred while we are absent. Remember, thou and Britta must pass the night alone here,—we cannot be at home till late in the evening of to-morrow. Let no one inside the garden, and deny thyself to all comers. ...— Thelma • Marie Corelli

... Alas! In Gal. 3:5 we are told that the works of the flesh are specially hatred and envy. How often among Christians, who have to work together, do we see divisions and bitterness! God have mercy upon them, that the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, is so frequently absent from His own people. You ask, "Why is it, that for twenty years I have been fighting with my temper, and can not conquer it?" It is because you have been fighting with the temper, and you have not been fighting with the root of ...— The Master's Indwelling • Andrew Murray

... of PA social services and the payment of PA salaries. Since June the Fayyad government in the West Bank has restarted salary payments and the provision of services but would be unable to operate absent high levels ...— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... the jungle, taking care not to get too far from their camp, for they did not want to lose their way, nor did they want to be absent too long in case Tolpec and his ...— Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders - or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold • Victor Appleton

... should do so, even if the light had made its way through a rent in the wall of the Temple. Glad, indeed, and grateful am I, that not in the Temple itself, but only in one or two of the side chapels, not essential to the edifice, and probably not coeval with it, have I found the light absent, and that the rent in the wall has but admitted the free ...— Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit etc. • by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... have had a great influence on me, and have had I trust, also on my good lord. He has heard of your capture on your way to Wittemburg, and of your detention here, and he writes earnestly that you may be liberated forthwith, and allowed to proceed on your journey. My good lord is absent so that I cannot at once, as I would wish, plead your cause with him; but I will write to him and obtain his permission to liberate you, and to make all the amends in my power for the inconvenience you have ...— Count Ulrich of Lindburg - A Tale of the Reformation in Germany • W.H.G. Kingston

... to that at Colchester, or interfere to prevent their tenants from attending, as at Reading. The consequence was a very large number of farmers were present at the meeting, although it is well known that the harvest is not in such a state of forwardness as to allow them to absent themselves from their ordinary occupations without ...— The Economist - Volume 1, No. 3 • Various

... that, like a cloud,[5] Are gathering from all earth's dominions, Like doves, long absent, when allowed Homeward to shoot their ...— The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore • Thomas Moore et al

... variety of lengths which have traveled to us from the star. In the point image of a star, these radiations fall in a confused heap. and the observer is unable to say that radiations corresponding to any given wave-lengths are present or absent. When the star's light has been passed through the prism, or diffracted from the grating of a spectroscope, these rays are separated one from another and arranged side by side in perfect order, ready for the observer to survey them and to determine which ones are present in superabundance ...— Popular Science Monthly Volume 86

... fell upon Dawn and myself was unbroken when we went to tea and seemed to have affected the whole company, or else it was the conversational powers of Andrew, who was absent, which ...— Some Everyday Folk and Dawn • Miles Franklin

... furniture of the graves—beads, slate palettes, green paint, ashes, flint knives and pottery—were of novel types, and without any admixture of the mirrors, ushabtis, scarabs, or any of the other furniture of ordinary tombs. Hieroglyphic inscriptions were also absent. The results of the excavations were published in "Naqada and Ballas," and the main conclusions there set forth were that these graves were the interments of a foreign race, differing from the Egyptians of the dynastic periods in physical features and in habits; that they ...— El Kab • J.E. Quibell

... here was but momentary. Duvall went to his room, threw a few articles of clothing into his grip, left a note for Grace, telling her that he would be absent for several days, then rejoined his companion and drove uptown to the hotel opposite the park, the name of which he had mentioned to Mrs. Morton. He felt perfectly certain that they ...— The Film of Fear • Arnold Fredericks

... up with an absent-minded smile, nodded approvingly at the finished slippers standing on the table, and then went on with her problems. Lloyd opened her bureau-drawer to search for the ribbon which she had bought ...— The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation • Annie Fellows Johnston

... the book lies in the total and miraculous ABSENCE from it of all these qualities—a charm which is completed and perfected by the evident fact that the author, whose naive innocence easily and surely wins our regard, and almost our worship, does not know that they are absent, does not even suspect that they are absent. When read by the light of these helps to an understanding of the situation, the book ...— The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories • Mark Twain

... the mail were due to be written in the afternoon, and he spent his time penning long and kindly greetings to absent friends. ...— Robert Louis Stevenson • Margaret Moyes Black

... as Madame de Bourgogne was coming from mass and he knew that Dangeau, her chevalier d'honneur, was absent, he gave her his hand. The attendants had accustomed themselves to let him have this honour, on account of his distinguished voice, so as to allow him to speak by the way, and retired respectfully so as not ...— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... while all this was going on, the Premier, Mr. Stafford, was absent in England, and that his colleagues supported the Governor's action. Parliament did not assemble until war had broken out, and then a majority of members conceived themselves bound to stand by what had been done. Nevertheless, so great was the doubt about ...— The Long White Cloud • William Pember Reeves

... doomed to suffer disappointments. Thus after labouring at Kolobeng for ten years the Boers, annoyed with him for endeavouring to teach them that the natives should be treated with kindness and consideration, made an attack on his house when he was absent. They slaughtered a number of the men and women, carried away 200 children into slavery, and burnt down the mission station. Livingstone was deeply grieved about the capture of the children, but as to his own loss he merely says: "The Boers by taking possession of all my ...— Beneath the Banner • F. J. Cross

... world I have lived a long time in the two and a half years that I have been away—but never mind that now. Everything looks the same hereabouts. I seem to have been absent but a few days. How strange it is! Signe, there you see Willowby, on that rise; quite a town yet. How's ...— Added Upon - A Story • Nephi Anderson

... near, for I heard him, and occasionally saw him standing with body horizontal instead of upright, as usual, the better to maintain his position against the wind. At about the ordinary intervals the sitter left her nest, without so much as a leaf to cover it, and was absent perhaps half as long as common, but not once did her mate assume ...— Little Brothers of the Air • Olive Thorne Miller

... the Spaniards capitulated. When suitable terms had been agreed upon, the garrison, only one hundred and fifty in number, marched out under the command of a woman. It appeared then that the governor of the fortress was absent, and that the Spaniards had been commanded, during the protracted ...— Dikes and Ditches - Young America in Holland and Belguim • Oliver Optic

... crept into Paradise. "God lukit, and saw her lattin in, and leugh His heart sair." Examples of this kind of sportive irreverence are common enough; their root is in human nature: and they could not be absent in the mythology of savage or of ancient peoples. To Zeus the myths of this kind would come to ...— The Homeric Hymns - A New Prose Translation; and Essays, Literary and Mythological • Andrew Lang

... urinarius, also within the folds of the labia. In the virgin it is partly closed by a membranous fold called the hymen or maidenhead. The shape and size of the hymen varies greatly in different individuals, sometimes being entirely absent. After marriage it usually persists as notched folds. The presence of an intact hymen is not necessarily a sign of virginity, nor does its absence necessarily indicate defloration. Its congenital absence or absence at the time of birth is known. It sometimes is ...— Herself - Talks with Women Concerning Themselves • E. B. Lowry

... the man who called himself Lord Arondelle, but who was known at the house he occupied only as Mr. Scott, and who professed to be the husband of the young woman—went out in the morning and remained absent until evening. ...— The Lost Lady of Lone • E.D.E.N. Southworth

... human being, bears to the body; both represent the living, moving, life-awakening element, without which existence would be impossible. Hence we find among most nations a deep feeling of attachment to the streams and waters of their native land, the remembrance of which, when absent in foreign climes, is always treasured with peculiar fondness. Thus among the early Greeks, each tribe came to regard the rivers and springs of its individual state as beneficent powers, which brought blessing and ...— Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome • E.M. Berens

... expensive, but pernicious; the utter destruction of all economy, the bane of good housewifery, and the source of all idleness. Tradesmen especially suffered from the habit. They could not serve their customers because their apprentices were absent during the busiest hours of the day drumming up ...— The Little Tea Book • Arthur Gray

... him spoken to Bruennhilde at parting. An infinite tenderness invades him. "Though I should forget all you ever taught me," he murmurs, "one teaching I shall still hold fast. My first draught, to faithful love, Bruennhilde, I drink to you!" With which secret toast to the absent beloved he sets the horn to his lips and drains it—to the motif of Evil Enchantment, the motif of the Cup of Forgetfulness, closely resembling the Tarnhelm-motif, but sweeter,—cruel as a treacherous ...— The Wagnerian Romances • Gertrude Hall

... little mahogany stand, and the coat-hangers in the closet. Johnny was accustomed to stopping in hotels where the furnishings were all but nailed down, and the little conveniences were conspicuously absent. This, he decided, was a regular place; a home for millionaires. He doubted very much whether the Thunder Bird was worth the furniture in this one room, and wondered at his own temerity in making free with it. To brace his courage he must untie ...— The Thunder Bird • B. M. Bower

... doubt, the best of it. And I have often noticed that the plumpest and most perfect women never eat so hard and fast as the skinny and three-cornered ones. These last be often ashamed of it, and eat most when the men be absent. Hence it came to pass that Lorna, being the loveliest of all maidens, had as much as she could do to finish her own half of pie; whereas Gwenny Carfax (though generous more than greedy), ate up hers without winking, after finishing the brown loaf; and then ...— Lorna Doone - A Romance of Exmoor • R. D. Blackmore

... interpretations. To form a mental picture of Christ in His environment, to read ourselves back into His world and then into His ways of thought, such efforts are more than ever needed to-day, and they are more than ever absent. Historic sense and imagination should be allowed to play upon the recorded acts and sayings of Jesus, until a great temple to His memory rises in the high places of the mind, dominating thence the whole intellectual and moral life. Such an enterprise ...— Monophysitism Past and Present - A Study in Christology • A. A. Luce

... planned the music to suit his own notions. What he asked for we gave. On this Sabbath morning there was no surprise when he announced, "Our tenor being absent, we will omit the anthem, and I shall ask brother Philip and sister Marjory to sing Number 549, 'Oh, for ...— The Price of the Prairie - A Story of Kansas • Margaret Hill McCarter

... that scandal is a yellow pup that dogs a parson's heels, to which everybody throws some kind of bone," remarked Jessie. Jessie always vigorously represses Billy in his own presence and then quotes him eternally when he is absent. ...— The Heart's Kingdom • Maria Thompson Daviess

...absent friend after a long absence; if it is running, a journey is indicated; a dead hare foreshows ...— Telling Fortunes By Tea Leaves • Cicely Kent

... later, Roger, having said goodbye to Juan and Pedro, and told them that he might be absent for some time, started to Tezcuco. They had scarcely left the town, when a canoe with six rowers issued from one of the canals and followed in ...— By Right of Conquest - Or, With Cortez in Mexico • G. A. Henty

... age, but the half of his life was spent in antiquity or algebra. Once carried away by a problem, or a Greek reminiscence, he passed away, as it were, from his present existence, and everything was unheeded. His body remained, and breathed on his desk, but his soul was absent. This peculiarity was well known to the boys, who used to say, "Dominie is in his dreams, and ...— Jacob Faithful • Captain Frederick Marryat

... with a long string of hounds at his heels in single file. "Valiant," "Tiptoe" and "Ploughboy" were close to him, and I counted the other hounds in the line, fully expecting to miss half of them. To my surprise and delight, only one was absent; this was poor "Phrenzy." The others had all managed to save themselves. I now crossed the river by leaping from rock to rock with some difficulty, and with hands and knees I climbed the opposite bank. This was about sixty feet high, ...— Eight Years' Wandering in Ceylon • Samuel White Baker

... spirits of the war which had gone to rest. When I saw him last before this, he was commanding his battery in the thickest of the fight at the battle of Corinth about 11 o'clock in the forenoon of October 4, 1862. His rank was that of Second Lieutenant. All officers of higher grade were absent in hospital from wounds received fifteen days before at Iuka, in which battle this battery of a few more than 100 men had eighteen killed and fifty-two wounded, and out of 148 horses had but three left standing at the close of the engagement. The battery was captured by the rebels and recaptured ...— A Battery at Close Quarters - A Paper Read before the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, - October 6, 1909 • Henry M. Neil

...absent, Governor Phillip made an excursion to Broken Bay, a few leagues to the northward of Port Jackson, in order to explore it. As a harbour it almost equals the latter, but the adjacent country was found so rocky and bare, as to preclude all possibility of turning it to account. Some rivulets of ...— A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay • Watkin Tench

... of stale sponge-cakes erected atop of the counter, and lastly exposed sideways to the glare of Our Missis's eye—you ask a Boy so sitiwated, next time you stop in a hurry at Mugby, for anything to drink; you take particular notice that he'll try to seem not to hear you, that he'll appear in a absent manner to survey the Line through a transparent medium composed of your head and body, and that he won't serve you as long as you can possibly bear it. ...— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11 • Various

... pony's silvery-gray tail. The operation was borne with most obliging patience, but when he stooped to pick up another beautiful long hair from the straw—for when you are making snakes you might as well make plenty, alas! the pony was so absent-minded as to step back—and down came the iron-shod hoof on ...— The Awakening of Helena Richie • Margaret Deland

... tiresome, and, for patience, you turn every now and then to your own thoughts; but you are courteous, and, taking care not to upset me, when a chance word brings you back from your distant journeying, your eyes, so absent before, quickly take on an expression of interest. And I am as far from what I am saying as you: I, too, hardly hear the sound of my words: and while I follow their reflection in your lovely face, in my heart I listen to other words which ...— Jean-Christophe Journey's End • Romain Rolland

... Buda-Pest; and if it had not been for certain energetic measures taken by the members of the Little Entente it may well be doubted whether the Government of Admiral Horthy, which does not conceal the fact that it is royalist—the king being temporarily absent—would have required Charles to leave the country. The Little Entente pointed out to their great Allies what these had apparently overlooked, namely, that the return of the Habsburgs was not opposed by the Succession States out of pure ...— The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2 • Henry Baerlein

... evidently had a hard time of it, and appeared to be in no way reconciled to her lot, her great wish being clearly to make her escape. In this attempt she was aided by a young noble in silk attire, who made his appearance whenever the brigand, a ferocious-looking ruffian, was absent. The lady made piteous appeals to the audience for sympathy, greatly exciting the feelings of many of them, though Tom and I were much inclined to laugh when we saw the brigand and the lover hob-nobbing with each other behind a side scene, which, by some mischance, had ...— Paddy Finn • W. H. G. Kingston

... seldom absent from Aruna's side. They said little, but his presence wrapped her round with a sense of companionship more intimate than she had yet felt even in their happiest times together. While rocket after rocket soared and curved and blossomed ...— Far to Seek - A Romance of England and India • Maud Diver

... itinerary), and if their thirst for cathedrals isn't slaked when these are finished we have the entire continent to do. If I could only succeed in making an impression on the retina of aunt Celia's eye! Though I have been under her feet for ten days, she never yet has observed me. This absent-mindedness of hers serves me ill now, but it may ...— A Cathedral Courtship • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... hill Kauwiki, where the seer built the temple to his god, and where Hina watched the clouds drift toward her absent lover, lies at the extreme eastern end of Maui. About this hill clusters much mythic lore of the gods. Here the heavens lay within spear thrust to earth, and here stood Maui, whose mother is called Hina, to thrust them apart. ...— The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai • Anonymous

... Rodney was in the saddle within ten minutes after the arrival of the messenger, and reached Philadelphia on the morning of the fourth of July, just before the final vote was taken. Thus Delaware was secured. Robert Morris and John Dickenson of Pennsylvania were absent; the former was favorable, the latter opposed to the measure. Of the other five who were present, Doctor Franklin, James Wilson, and John Morton were in favor of it; Thomas Willing, and Charles Humphreys were opposed to it; ...— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 • Various

... Dave stood plucking absent-mindedly at the leaves of a bush in a clump that grew at the foot of the boulder. Suddenly Dick glanced down, noting that his feet were on boggy ground, though the surrounding soil was ...— The High School Boys' Fishing Trip • H. Irving Hancock

... doors, thrown open, showed them the figure of their deliverer in the well-earned triumph of his important victory, from the whole of that grave multitude there arose an involuntary burst of gratitude and transport. They jumped upon him like children on a long-absent father. They clung about him as captives about their redeemer. All England, all America joined to his applause. Nor did he seem insensible to the best of all earthly rewards, the love and admiration ...— Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke. • Edmund Burke

... Committee. We have had not merely an exhaustive but an exhausting discussion. I am told by ingenious calculators in the newspapers that over six hundred hours, from some of which I confess I have been absent, of debate have been accorded to the Committee stage. No guillotine closure has been applied. Full, free, unfettered debate has been accorded—has been accorded with a patience and with a generosity unprecedented in Parliamentary annals, and which ...— Liberalism and the Social Problem • Winston Spencer Churchill

... coming to you. In the mouth of two witnesses, and of three, shall every word be established. (2)I have before said, and now say beforehand, as when present the second time, so also now when absent, to those who heretofore have sinned, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare; (3)since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you. (4)For even if he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For we also ...— The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. • Various

... leader of the Saints, went also to Hiram to be beside him. Smith was toiling night and day to produce a new version of the Hebrew Scriptures, believing that he was taught by inspiration to correct errors in them. Rigdon was scribe and reviser. These two being absent from Kirtland, responsibility and work without limit rested ...— The Mormon Prophet • Lily Dougall

... began. Knives and forks, cups and saucers made a noise, but human voices were still, for human beings were hungry and had no time to speak. Alice first broke silence; holding her tea-cup with the manner of one proposing a toast, she said, "Here's to absent friends. Friends may ...— Mary Barton • Elizabeth Gaskell

... ended shortly after 11 o'clock that night, having lasted thirteen hours. The resolution was thereupon put to the vote and passed by 82 to 6. The actual alignment was 90 to 6, as eight absent senators favored the resolution. The six opponents were Senators La Follette of Wisconsin, Gronna of North Dakota, Norris of Nebraska, Stone of Missouri, Lane of Oregon, and Vardaman of Mississippi. They all belonged ...— The Story of the Great War, Volume VI (of VIII) - History of the European War from Official Sources • Various

... was so absent-minded at the moment, so absorbed in admiration of the garish scene before him, that he addressed the chief in French, of which Knife-in-the-Wind knew but the one word cache, which all ...— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... this time, the whole party were transferred to England, a proper ship had been bought and equipped, the family of strangers were put in quiet possession of their cabins, and I had made all ray arrangements for being absent from England for the next two years. The vessel was a stout-built, comfortable ship of about three hundred tons burden, and had been properly constructed to encounter the dangers of the ice. Her accommodations were suitably arranged to meet all the exigencies ...— The Monikins • J. Fenimore Cooper

... Beale to interrogate her. She had heard nothing and she had been in the kitchen all the evening. One fact she did reveal, however, that Fisher had gone from the kitchen and had been absent a quarter of an hour and ...— The Clue of the Twisted Candle • Edgar Wallace

... in the next, for your compassion on a wretched friendless girl! But why do I call her friendless? Her innocence has the best of friends in heaven; the Almighty is a parent she is not left to seek for; he is never absent;—Oh! blessed Lord! cried she, with a degree of ecstasy and confidence which most sensibly affected us all, to thy care I resign her; thy tender mercies are over all thy works, and thou, who carest for the smallest part of thy creation, will not deny her thy protection. Oh! Lord defend her innocence! ...— A Description of Millenium Hall • Sarah Scott

... little below her sate Tostig and Leofwine, who had come in from the bear-hunt by the river-gate, and were talking loud and merrily; and thegns and cnehts sate all around, and there was wassail as Harold entered. But the Earl looked only to his father, and he saw that his eyes were absent from the glee, and that he was bending his head over the old falcon, which sate ...— Harold, Complete - The Last Of The Saxon Kings • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... melodrama, admirable in its way, needs the leaven of a well-balanced discretion and a sense of humour," Sir Timothy observed. "The latter quality is as a rule singularly absent amongst the myrmidons of Scotland Yard. I do not think that Mr. Shopland will catch even fish in the neighbourhood of The Walled House. As regards your matrimonial proposal, let us waive that until ...— The Evil Shepherd • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... Salam, elder brother to Muley Soliman, the reigning Emperor of Marocco, had a very large estate in this Wah, called Santariah. In the 1793d year of the Christian era, he sent his friend and servant Alkaid Muhammed ben Abd Saddack, late governor of Mogodor, to effect the sale of this estate. He was absent on this embassy ...— An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa • Abd Salam Shabeeny

... masked man, "it is M. de Bussy, and I would not believe it, fool that I was! Really, what a good and excellent friend! He learns that the husband is absent, and has left his wife alone, and fears she may be afraid, so he comes to keep her company, although on the eve of a duel. I repeat, he is a good ...— Chicot the Jester - [An abridged translation of "La dame de Monsoreau"] • Alexandre Dumas

... No matter now, where thou be false or no, Goswin, whether thou love an other better; Or me alone; or where thou keep thy vow, And word, or that thou come, or stay: for I To thee from henceforth, must be ever absent, And thou to me: no more shall we come neere, To tell our selves, how bright each other [B others] eyes were, How soft our language, and how sweet our kisses, Whil'st we made one our food, th'other our feast, Not mix our soules ...— Beggars Bush - From the Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Vol. 2 of 10) • Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

... UTILIZED.—Pugnacity can never be entirely absent where there is emulation. Under Scientific Management it is used to overcome not persons, but things. Pugnacity is a great driving force. It is a wonderful thing that under Scientific Management this force is aroused not against one's fellow-workers, but against one's work. The ...— The Psychology of Management - The Function of the Mind in Determining, Teaching and - Installing Methods of Least Waste • L. M. Gilbreth

... anything special," Ruth replied. "But there is something queer about her, I must admit. She is so absent-minded at times. This morning I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk, and she said ...— The Moving Picture Girls in War Plays - Or, The Sham Battles at Oak Farm • Laura Lee Hope

... had been left to steer itself automatically while the professor was absent from the conning tower, was moving along at about half speed. The gage showed they were going at twenty miles an hour, and were three ...— Under the Ocean to the South Pole - The Strange Cruise of the Submarine Wonder • Roy Rockwood

... mother, Madame de Vendome, and his sister the Duchess de Nemours, who had accompanied the Queen all day and remarked her emotion. They did all they could to prevent him going up stairs, and entreated him to absent himself for a while. He, without troubling himself in the slightest degree, answered them in the words of the doomed Duke de Guise—"They dare not!"—and entered the Queen's great cabinet, who received him with the best grace possible, and asked him all ...— Political Women (Vol. 1 of 2) • Sutherland Menzies

... depressions, in absorbed manic states and in perplexities. Negativism and catalepsy are never well developed except in stupor. So if these symptoms be present the diagnosis is simplified. But they are often absent from a typical stupor. Let us consider these three ...— Benign Stupors - A Study of a New Manic-Depressive Reaction Type • August Hoch

... hear the story of that absent-minded chap, Sir James Jackson, who went to the RIGHT dinner-party by mistake?' he asked, 'and apologized like mad, by Jove! and insisted he couldn't stay. The people nearly had to tie him down in his—' Captain Gordon stopped, arrested by ...— The Pool in the Desert • Sara Jeannette Duncan

... within a few days of eleven years since I was in Ireland, and then after an absence of two. Those who have been absent from any scene for even a much shorter time generally lose the true practical notion of the country, and of what may or may not be done in it. When I knew Ireland, it was very different from the state of England, where government is a vast deal, the public something, but ...— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VI. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... ICKY, quaintly dressed in the costume of an Elizabethan peasant, is pottering and doddering among the pots and dods. He is an old man, well past the prime of life, no longer young, From the fact that there is a burr in his speech and that he has absent-mindedly put on his coat wrongside out, we surmise that he is either above or below the ordinary superficialities ...— Tales of the Jazz Age • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... tears, this voice that always, in its most sustained splendour and in its most ordinary cadences, vibrates with a strange pathos, is what finally places him alone among artists. This thrill in the voice, come colui che piange e dice, is never absent from his poetry. In the "lonely words," in the "pathetic half-lines" spoken of by the two great modern masters of English prose and verse, he perpetually touches the deepest springs of feeling; in these ...— Latin Literature • J. W. Mackail

... classified according to the varying rates of Subsistence Allowance in force in the Service. Here the dinner for the L1-a-day man—there the tea for the 10s.-a-day man. Special luncheon rates for those not absent from home at night, but absent ...— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, November 28, 1891 • Various

... of the people were mainly mothers with daughters—daughters of all ages, and a scattering of aunts, and there was a tendency to clotting, parties kept together and regarded parties suspiciously. Mr. Seddon was in hiding, I think, all the time, though not formally absent. ...— The New Machiavelli • Herbert George Wells